Chapter 3

"Lena, what are you talking about!" Arthur shot to his feet, his face flushing red. "I just want Leon home safe — I don't need any gift!"

"Mr. Collins, take it easy." Julian swirled his wine glass and smiled, smoothing things over with a edge hidden in his words. "Leon just got out. Of course he's broke. Aunt Lena was just joking. What matters is he's back. Even a rock off the street would count as a gift, right, Leon?"

"Exactly. If you can't afford anything, just say so. Nobody's going to laugh at you. Why pretend?" A nearby relative chimed in, piling on.

Leon ignored the mockery and slowly stood up.

"Dad, I know you never liked imported cigars. You've always preferred rolling your own."

He reached into his coat pocket.

He pulled out two things.

In his left hand was a rough-carved wood pipe with a deep reddish grain. In his right, a worn paper bag stuffed with whole, uncut tobacco leaves.

The room went quiet for a few seconds, then erupted in sharp laughter.

"Oh my God! A piece of scrap wood and a bag of weeds?" Lena pointed at what Leon was holding, doubled over laughing.

"That's embarrassing. You could buy a pile of that junk at a flea market for ten bucks," another relative sneered. "Someone said pick up a rock, and he actually showed up with garbage."

"If I were him, I'd want to disappear on the spot." Martha slapped her knee and jabbed a finger at Leon. "Leon, are you trying to insult everyone by bringing this trash?"

Ava's face burned. She wanted nothing more than to throw Leon out right then.

Julian stifled a laugh and let out a theatrical sigh. "Leon, this really is a bit much."

The whole room was laughing — everyone except Arthur, who was locked onto the pipe in Leon's hands. His breathing went shallow, and his eyes never left the dark red wood. He pushed past the people around him, walked straight to Leon, and held out both hands to receive it.

He ran his fingers slowly over the grain, his voice shaking. "The carving… Leon, is this…"

"You can tell, Dad." Leon nodded. "Hank from Kent carved it himself, out of peach wood. His eyesight's going now. He said he's not making any more. And this tobacco — he cured it himself using his family's old method, aged for years. You can't find it anywhere else."

"Hank's work!" Arthur pressed the pipe against his chest and broke into a wide grin. "You remembered I wanted this! Those cigars are too harsh — this is exactly what I like. Now this is something!"

Watching Arthur light up like that, the relatives who had just been laughing all went quiet.

Julian's smile froze on his face. He'd handed over a hundred thousand dollars and Arthur barely blinked. Leon shows up with a beat-up pipe and the old man nearly tears up over it.

Julian cursed Arthur in his head for not knowing the value of things, but kept his smile in place. "Well, if Mr. Collins likes it, then Leon put real thought into it."

Dinner carried on, but the relatives still looked at Leon the same way — with barely disguised contempt. Julian took a sip of wine and started turning over ways to make Leon's night worse.

Then the doorbell rang.

The door opened to reveal a tall woman in a black jacket, with a presence that filled the doorway.

It was Raven.

"Who are you here for?" Martha took two instinctive steps back just looking at her.

The relatives clocked her outfit and a ripple of unease moved through the room.

"Is that a military uniform?"

"Leon, did you get yourself into trouble again? Did the military come to take you back?" Lena shrieked across the room at him. "I always knew this guy was bad news!"

Julian exhaled and smirked. "Looks like you were only out temporarily. Don't worry — Ava and I will come visit you in prison."

Raven walked into the living room, her boots clicking crisp and clean against the floor, and stopped directly in front of Leon.

Every eye in the room followed her, waiting to see what came next.

She stood at attention, feet together, and snapped off a sharp salute, voice clear and respectful:

"Reporting to the Commander. All tasks you assigned have been completed. Awaiting your orders."

The room went so quiet the only sound was the clock on the wall.

Ava stood frozen, staring at the woman mid-salute, her mind completely blank.

Tasks he assigned. Awaiting his orders.

Arthur was the first to find his voice. He looked at Raven and asked, "Miss, what did you just call him? Has Leon been working with the military all this time?"

Leon put a hand on Arthur's shoulder and said quietly, "Dad, I've got something to handle. I'll come see you again in a few days."

"Go. Don't let me keep you." Arthur's eyes went red. He raised a hand and wiped the corner of his eye.

Leon turned around and let his gaze move across the room, over the relatives who had gone pale.

Then he looked at Ava, her face unsettled, and Julian standing beside her.

"Ava." Leon's voice was calm, but it carried a weight that didn't need to be explained. "I hope you're happy."

"Julian." Leon leaned in slightly, voice dropping low. "Ava's a good woman. Treat her well. Because if you don't…"

Julian opened his mouth and couldn't get a single word out. His shirt was already soaked through with cold sweat.

---

An hour later, inside an armored SUV.

Leon sat in the back seat, the sharp edge he'd carried all evening slowly easing off.

Raven reached back from the front and handed him a black envelope.

"My Lord, the woman you've been looking for — we found her."

Leon untied the cord and pulled out a stack of documents.

The first page had a photo clipped to the corner. A woman with long hair, a stubborn look in her eyes.

"Her name is Sophia Mellon. She's from the Mellon family. She runs a small independent design studio in the Tenderloin. She's the one who found you in that alley and got you out." Raven continued her report.

"How has she been doing?" Leon asked, almost offhand.

"Sophia never married. After that night, she got pregnant."

"She had a daughter. Her name is Mia. DNA results confirmed — she's yours."

Raven went on. "Because she was pregnant outside of marriage, her family cut her off. She's been raising the child alone in a rented place in the East District, keeping the studio going on scattered freelance jobs. It's a one-woman operation. Clients regularly stiff her on payments, and she gets hassled by local thugs every so often."

Leon's breath caught. The papers in his hand crumpled where he was gripping them.

He leaned back in the seat and worked on steadying his breathing.

"Get a car ready. Go pick her up." Leon gave the order.

"My Lord, hold on." Raven kept her voice even. "Our source says Sophia has never gotten over what that man did to her. If we show up at her door right now, it could go badly."

Leon caught himself. He let his grip loosen slowly.

She was right. For Sophia, that night had been a nightmare. Walking in cold would only make things worse.

"That said, there might be another way." Raven held out a printed sheet. "Sophia posted a job listing yesterday. She's looking for a full-time male assistant for the studio."

Leon took it and scanned the page.

The listing was short: the studio urgently needed a male assistant — someone to run errands, handle deliveries, liaise with clients, deal with general tasks, and occasionally pick up and drop off her child at school. Pay negotiable, meals included.

"Pick up her child?" Leon's eyes stopped on that line.

Raven nodded. "She can't keep up on her own. The studio and the kid — she can't manage both. She needs help."

Leon held the listing and pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose.

He leaned back, closed his eyes, took a long breath, and when he opened them again, his gaze settled on the phone number at the bottom of the page.

"Raven."

"Yes."

"Have someone take this listing down. And anyone who's already called that number — I want them intercepted. All of them."

Leon folded the page and put it in his pocket.

"My daughter is going to grow up with me around. That's not up for discussion."

"Get me a basic ID. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to her studio to apply for the job."